Grenade



E. J. W. RAGSDALE.

GRENADE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. I9, I917.

1,358,652. Patented Nov, 9, 1920.

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E. L W. RAGSDALE.

GHENADE- FILED JA APPLICATI .19, 1917- 1,358,652, Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

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E. J. W. RAGSDALE.

GRENADE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. I9. l9l7.

1,358,652. Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

{SHEETS-SHEET 3" I 3mm 7 WW I EARL J. W. RAGSDALE, OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES ORDNANCE COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT'OF COLUMBIA, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA.

GRENADE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

Application filed January 19, 1917. Serial No. 143,224

be actuated by the force of impact incident to the grenade striking the ground or other object. It will be observed however, that my invention is applicable to any explosive missile adapted to be actuated upon impact whether it be thrown by hand or other means and where I use the term grenade it is my intention to include within its scope any explosive missile or projectile to which the I invention may be applicable.

' It is my purpose to provide a grenade which will operate with certainty upon impact irrespective of the position of the gremade with respect to the object struck; which will be absolutely safe in handling and which will not be operated if accidentally dropped after the safety pin is removed; which will be armed as the grenade leaves the hand by the tendency to rotate the grenade in the act of throwing same; which will be of convenient shape; and which will pos sess delayed action so that the grenade can roll into a trench before exploding instead of bursting upon grazing the parapet or the top of a trench.

I will describe my invention in the best form known to me at present and as applied to an impact hand grenade but it will be apparent that it is susceptible to changes in forms and proportions and to desirable additions with the exercise of only ordinary mechanical skill without departing from the spirit of my invention.

In the drawings chosen to illustrate my invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims- Figure 1 is a side elevation of'my im-- proved grenade with the releasable safety device locked in place;

2, a plan view of the grenade;

Fig. 3, a section on the line 33 of 2;

Fig. 4:, a section on the line 4- .1: of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5, a view similar to Fig. 2 with the safety devlce cover and spring removed; Fig. 6, a fragmental perspective view showing the armed status of the grenade;

F g. 7 a perspective view of the catch; F g. 8, a perspective view of the detent; F 1g. 9, a side elevation of the safety eye bolt, and I Figs. 10 and 11 are perspective views showing the initial and final conditions existing in throwing the grenade.

Briefly stated my grenade has, in addition to the usual features common to most grenades, a combination contact-percussion firing mchanism, that is to say, a firing mechanism adapted to be actuated by contact of a part thereof with an object or by the inertia of such part resulting from impact of I the grenade against an object. Further, my grenade embodies an automatically removable safety device the removal of which will render the firing mechanism armed, and a catch for holding the safety device in safety position until said catch is forcibly disengaged by the fingers of the. hand at the moment of delivery of the grenade from the hand when the same is thrown.

\Vhen I use the term armed I mean that the firing mechanism of my grenade is placed in such condition that it will be 0 erated by the forces intended to operate t e same. In my construction two forces may be the operating forces. In one instance the inertia of an element of the firing mecha nism is the operating force and in the other instance contact of such element with an object produces the operating force. These are really the same force since in one case the grenade comes to a stop and an element of the firing mechanism tends to go on, while in the other case the element of the firing mechanism comes to a stop and the body of the grenade tends to go on. Technically speaking the release of the firin mechanism in both instances specified is e ected by inertia.

Referring now particularly to the drawings my improved grenade is shown as comprising a hollow body A having included in its wall a filling. plug 10, a bottom closing plug 11, an adapter 12 and a top closing plug 13 all of which have detachable connection with the body A. Mounted within the body A and supported at its ends by the adapter 12 and the top closing plug 13 is a firing pin and detonator housing B in which is mounted respectively a firing pin 14, a firingpinspring 15 and a detonator 16. The firing pin 14 is slidably engaged through an opening in the top clos ing plug 13 and is provided with a notch 17 which is disposed exteriorly of the body A when the firing pin is retracted. The end of the firing pin chamber of the housing B which is remote from the top closing plug 13 is. closed by a primer housing 18 which is engaged in the firing pin chamber of the housing B and in' the adapter 12. The detonator 16 is united to one end of a time train 19, the other end of said train'belng disposed in operative relation to a primer '20 carried by the housing 18 and whereby the firing of primer 20 will ignite the adj acent end of the time train 19.

The firing pin 14 is releasably secured in retracted position against the influence of the spring 15 by means of a trigger key 21 which is engaged in the notch 17 and bears at its inner edge against the top closing plug 13. The release of the trigger key 21 is effected by a tri er ring 22 having alined recesses 23 in w11ch the trigger key is engaged to produce an interlocked relation between the trigger key and ring. It

will be noted that the position of the recesses 23 is such that the center of bearing of the key is not coincident with the center ofgravity of the combined ring and key. By reference to Figs. 3 and 6 it will be obvious that the tilting of the ring 22 with either the top or bottom edge of the key as an axis, the rotation of the ring 22 with the notch 17 as an axis, and lateral movement of the ring will cause the trigger key 21 to be disengaged from the notch 17 to release the firing pin. In most cases during operation there will be a combination of two or all three of these movements taking place. After throwing the grenade the status shown in Fig. 6 exists so that in the event the body of the grenade strikes the ground the inertia of the trigger ring 22 will tilt the latter to effect disengagement of the trigger key 21 and release of the firing pin. In the event the trigger ring strikes the ground in advance of the body of the grenade the inertia of the body will effect tilting of the trigger ring and disengagement of the trigger key to release the firing pin.

In order to prevent operation of the grenade in handling or if accidentally dropped I provide a plurality of sectors 24 which surround the trigger ring 22 and seat upon the body A and the top plug 13. These sectors are loosely disposed and under ordinary conditions would fall away from the body A and ring '22. To hold the sectors 24 in securing relation to the ring 22 I engage a cover 25 over the ring and sectors as a securing ledge 27 over whichis engaged one end of a hinge, 28, the latter being secured to the body A. The cover 25 is held against movement under the influence of the spring 26 at a pointopposite to the hinge 28 by a catch C,- said catch being secured to the body A and including a nib 29 de-' The tachabl Y en a ed over "the led e 27.

free end of the catch B terminates in a limit of. its movement in the direction of the free end of the catch C a portion of the detent will engage beneath the securing face 34 of the bolt 33 which will prevent operation of the catch to disengage the nib 29 from the ledge 27 The detent D is provided with spaced ears 37 having recesses 38 respectively which aline with the eye of the bolt 33 when the detent D is in looking position. These recesses 38 form a seat for a locking pin 39 when the latter is engaged through the eye of the bolt. 33 and in this way the detent D is locked against movement to release position until the looking pin 39 is withdrawn.

In using the first withdrawn. The grenade is then gripped in the hand ready to be thrown with the index finger over the end of the catch C and the middle finger over the end of the detent D. The removal of the safety pin 39 can be effected while the grenade is thus held in the hand. Before throwing the grenade the detent D is forced to release position by the middle finger of the hand as shown in Fig. 10 of the drawing. The grenade is then thrown and the natural tendency to rotate same will cause the inthe sectors will also fall away from the grenade the locking pin 39 is r grenade, their shape and the profile of the grenade it will be obvious that the firing mechanism has been armed and will operate upon impact of the grenade with an object in the manner previously referred to.

While I have shown and described the invention as applied to a grenade of the impact type the utilization of the involuntary tendency to rotate. a 'missile in throwing same to effect the release of the safety device can be resorted to in those grenades where the operation of the firing mechanism is initiated immediately upon the release of the safety device and where I set forth in the claims that the safety device normally locks the firing mechanism against activity and is released by the tendency to rotate the grenade in the act of throwing same to permit activity of the firing mechanism I mean that such activity of the firing mechanism may occur immediately upon the release of the safety device or may occur at a subsequent time when the grenade strikes an object.

It will be observed that the catch C is constructed of resilient metal and that normally the free end of the catch is spaced from the body of the grenade. By this construction it will be apparent that when the grenade is gripped as shown in Fig. 10 the free end of the catch will be forced against the body of the grenade and as the fingers release the grenade in throwing they will be followed by the free end of the catch so that the correct positioning of the latter to be tripped by the fingers as the grenades leave the hand is assured.

What is claimed is:

1. In a grenade, the combination of a body, a sprin impelled firing pin, an inertia operated trigger device normally holding the firing pin retracted, releasable elements normally holding the trigger device against operation ..,under the influence of its inertia, restraining means extending over said elements to maintain the latter in holding relation with respect to the trigger device, means constantly tending to disengage the restraining means from said elements, and a releasable catch normally holding the restraining means against the influence of said disengaging means.

2. In a grenade, the combination of a body, a spring impelled firing pin carried by the body, a trigger key normally holding the firing pin retracted, an inertia operated member interlocked with the trigger key, a plurality of sectors surrounding said member and normally holding the latter against operation under the influence of its inertia, and releasable means normally securing the sectors in holding position with respect to said member.

3. In a grenade, the combination of a body, a s ring impelled firing pin carried. by the body, an inertia operated trigger device normally holding the firing pin retracted, releasable elements normally holding the trigger device against operation under the influence of its inertia, a cover engaged over said elements to maintain the latter in holding relation with respect to the trigger device, means constantly tending to disengage the cover from said elements, and a releasable catch normally holding the cover against disengagement under the influence of said means.

4. In a grenade, the combination of a body, a spring impelled firing pin carried by the body, a trigger key normally holding the firing pin retracted, an inertia operated trigger ring interlocked with the trigger key, a plurality of sectors surrounding the trigger ring to normally hold the latter against operation under the influence of its inertia, a cover engaged over the trigger ring and sectors to hold the latter in securing relation with respect to the trigger ring, a spring constantly tending to disengage the cover, and a releasable catch holding said EARL J. W. RAGSDALE.

Witnesses:

J NO. J. Coon, NATHAN HAZEN. 

